Emergency Team Revives ‘Technically Dead’ Man
A quick response and a lifesaving piece of medical equipment helped San Diego County firefighters revive a “technically dead” La Jolla man Sunday after he suffered a heart attack and stopped breathing, officials said.
Robert G. Rez, 41, collapsed in his home in the 2300 block of Paseo Dorado at about 2:25 p.m. His family called 911, and less than four minutes later, emergency medical technicians arrived.
“He had no pulse, no breathing. He was basically dead,” said Capt. Al McDonald.
The firemen got Rez’s heart beating again by shocking him with a semiautomatic defibrillator, which is standard equipment on 56 county fire vehicles. Sunday night, Rez was in critical condition in the surgical intensive care unit of Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla.
Officials said the incident proved the importance of calling 911 promptly.
“For every one minute that the shock (from the defibrillator) is withheld, the chance of survival goes down about 7%,” said Criss Brainard, the emergency medical services coordinator for the San Diego Fire Department.
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